In a game full of eccentrics, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych was one of baseball’s classic loons. The ace of the Detroit pitcher staff in 1976, The Bird’s antics on the mound alone made him worth the price of a ticket.

But along came Fidrych — wiggling and jiggling on the mound, talking to the ball, discarding balls with which opposing batters had managed a hit, chasing away groundskeepers so he could landscape and groom the mound himself, shaking hands with teammates after outstanding plays.

Bob Gibson won 251 games and had a .291 ERA in 16 years with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a tough competitor on the mound. And, as this indicates, he was still a tough dude 27 years after retiring.

In 2002, Gibson and a stranger, Miguel B. Sanchez, squared off in a fist fight at a gas station near Omaha. Both men alleged that the other had cut him off on the freeway, and both men claimed that the other man threw the first punch after they got out of their cars. Police said they were unable to corroborate either man’s story, and no charges were filed. Mr Sanchez, 45, reportedly needed six stitches to repair damage above his eye. Mr Gibson, then 66, suffered no perceptible injuries.”

Gaylord Perry played for 8 different teams in 21 seasons, but he lived in the head of every batter who faced him. Perry was infamous for throwing the spitball.

Despite Perry’s notoriety for doctoring baseballs, and perhaps even more for making batters think he was throwing them on a regular basis — he even went so far as to title his 1974 autobiography Me and the Spitter, he wouldn’t be ejected for the illegal practice until August 23, 1982, in his 21st season in the majors. Perry also reportedly approached the makers of Vaseline about endorsing the product and was allegedly rebuffed with a one-line postcard reading, “We soothe babies’ backsides, not baseballs.” Former Manager Gene Mauch famously quipped “He should be in the Hall of Fame with a tube of KY Jelly attached to his plaque.”